Short Histories

We like to think its one for the kids, but we know the adults will love this quick fire list.

1. When it was built in 1800 Pennsylvania Castle had the first ‘flushing’ indoor toilet. One on the ground floor and another on the first floor. Based on bucket of water, a hole and gravity. We now use it for the vacuum cleaner!
2. Portland Prison was built in 1848 up at The Grove to house prisoners building the massive breakwaters in the Harbour. Cafes opened at the time for tourists to come and watch the prisoners. There are still prisons on the Island today. You can walk up to the Grove along the Coastal Path and see the prison and its buildings (takes you back 150 Years!)
3. St Andrew’s Church down in Church Ope Cove is a mysterious place. Believed to be the site of ancient mystical ceremonies it is recorded that the ritual of passing a child through the cleft of an ash tree was a cure for hernias. Even today many rumours circulate that it was a meeting place of the local witches coven (friendly witches)
4. Legend has it that King Ethelred’s twins were buried in the graveyard of St Andrew’s Church.